A master device, e.g., a host device, can communicate with one or more slave devices, e.g., peripheral devices using a serial bus. For example, the master device can be a controller that controls a slave device, such as a motor. However, transmission errors, such as missing messages, corrupted messages, or messages sent to a wrong slave, can occur due to timing related problems. Examples of timing related problems include clock skew, jitter, data delay, or slave select errors. Timing problems can be caused, for example, by variations in distance between the master device and its different slaves. The current way to check for transmission errors is to log and post-process data using a costly logic analyzer or protocol analyzer. However, some errors can cause havoc or damage if not detected until post-processing is performed. In the above example in which a master controller controls a slave motor device, such as by sending a STOP command, post-processing may not avert the consequences of a missed or corrupted message. Rather, the motor could continue to operate even after a determination was made that the motor needs to be stopped.